The 3-alarm fire that ripped through an abandoned Mid-City building early Friday morning (March 15) is under investigation, a spokesman for the New Orleans Fire Department said. The two-story building near the intersection of Bienville and North Broad streets had been scheduled for demolition Friday and with no signs of any utilities running in the building at the time of the blaze, investigators were unsure what might have caused the fire, said NOFD Assistant Superintendent Timothy McConnell.

"With no power to the building and no gas to the building, it's always suspicious at that point," McConnell said. Investigators were on the scene trying to determine what caused the fire, although no one is considered a suspect at the time, McConnell said.

While
investigators first thought the building was secure, upon closer
examination
they found that a couple of doors in the back of the structure were
open. McConnell said they found signs and evidence -- including
mattresses and sleeping bags -- that
led them to believe that vagrants had been sleeping there.

No one was injured during the fire, authorities said, and the investigation is ongoing.

The powerful blaze -- which was first reported as a 2-alarm at 6:35 a.m. but quickly escalated to 3-alarm status -- sent smoke and flames billowing out of the wooden structure and could be seen and smelled for blocks around the area.

Twenty-one units and 68 firefighters were called out to battle the flames which were eventually brought under control at about 7:54 a.m., McConnell said.

"When (firefighters) first arrived on the scene, they had heavy fire blowing out of the front of the building and impinging on the power lines there. Their main concern was trying to stop it from affecting the grid system. They did a real good job of getting it knocked down," McConnell said, adding that several buildings in the surrounding neighborhood had their power temporarily turned off while firefighters battled the blaze.

The building, which has been vacant since Hurricane Katrina and is next to a an E-Z Discount store and adjacent to a tire shop, was badly damaged during the fire, but the flames did not spread to any other of the surrounding buildings. The front façade of the structure was heavily damaged and portions of the roof and second floor collapsed. North Broad Street was temporarily closed between Iberville and Bienville streets while firefighters were on the scene.

A woman who said she works for the demolition company that was scheduled to tear down the structure said she was on her way in from eastern New Orleans when she saw smoke billowing in the distance.

"I thought to myself, 'please don't let it be the building we're taking down today'," said Christine Taranto.

"It strikes me as really weird that that the same day the building is supposed to be torn down it burns down instead," said Taranto.